Monday, September 14, 2009

I thought I had found the perfect fusible interfacing for bag making. This stuff is too stiff for what I envisioned and my attempts to subdue it has left me totally unimpressed with the results.

The bag had been relegated to my "thinking about what to do to fix it" pile. I think I've figured it out. The ugly truth : the interfacing has to be removed. I will save that cardboard emulating interfacing for some other project. Perhaps in a design that isn't meant to be a shoulder bag (with the risk of personal injury this would entail... not to mention looking stupid trying to flatten it out when wearing it over my shoulder. ;o)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

apparently (see how empty this baking pan is?). What's so weird you ask? This is a recipe for orange/blueberry muffins and as you can see, my muffins are square. Square muffins are weird, right? Okay, maybe not too weird, but is it weird to include tahini in muffins? Yeah, tahini (sesame seed butter). My family is used to or resigned to me adding things like this to ordinary recipes. I'm always substituting and tweaking recipes. It's no longer strange to them. Actually, they have stopped asking what I put in - they just go by taste. Weird is normal around here and in our case, it's a good (healthy) thing. ;o)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Yesterday, the house was filled with the biting sharpness of pickling brine and I went to bed with the smell of garlic and dill on my hands. I went to bed very happy with my day's efforts. Just look...

at how many quart jars I filled with 50lbs of dilled cucumbers.I didn't can anything last year due to our move and this time around I skipped this crazy sounding,but helpful step in my canning process. The cukes I bought this year had already been thoroughly cleaned, so they didn't need much more.

Canning is so rewarding and my family really appreciates it. The hardest part is patiently waiting for the cucumbers to become pickled. Every year I have to remind my sons that we need to leave those jars sealed for a good 6 weeks before they can start enjoying them.

Everytime I can produce, I love to just savour the look of all those jars filled with the season's bounty. I like knowing that I've contributed some handmade goodness to our pantry that we anticipate enjoying through the coming months. That's why I can. Do you?